RAPD PROFILING OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN 2 POPULATIONS OF THE MOSS CERATODON PURPUREUS IN VICTORIA LAND, ANTARCTICA

Isolates of the moss Ceratodon purpureus were collected down a channel formed by a meltstream waterfall at Granite Harbour in Southern Victo ria Land, Antarctica. The RAPD technique was used to analyse the exten t of genetic variation within clumps: between clumps, and between this population and specimens of the same species from two other areas in Antarctica (one a few hundred metres away, the other at Edmonson Point , 300 km further north) and from Sydney, Australia. Genetic variation was detected within and among clumps, with some spatial structure to t he population within the channel. Isolates from the nearby location we re quite closely related, whereas those from Edmonson Point formed an outgroup on a phylogenetic tree of relatedness.